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Thanks for joining our 4 Weeks to an Organized Christmas series!

Here’s a peek at some of the gift wrap ideas I finished this week:

I found this lovely graphic from The Graphics Fairy.

Buttons make everything fun.

 Won’t these look cute filled with M&M’s?

I found this fun label over at Lil’ Luna.

Here’s what we’ll be doing at The Merry Little Christmas Project during the month of November:

1. 20 Minute Missions: They’re back!  This year I made a handy little calendar you can print out.  The calendar gives you an idea each day on something to attack for 20 minutes to help prepare for Christmas.  I’ll be posting daily reminders over at The Merry Little Christmas Project Facebook page.

2. $50 Amazon Gift Card Giveaway: Yep – another giveaway!  Enter daily here. (Giveaway has ended – thanks to all who entered!)

3. Christmas Deals Newsletter: Want to be alerted to the best Christmas deals I post daily at Cha-Ching on a Shoestring?  Sign up for my Christmas deals newsletter.  You’ll receive a daily email with my top Christmas deals before my regular newsletter goes out so you don’t miss a deal!

Learn more about The Merry Little Christmas Project and simplify Christmas with me.

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It’s the final week in our 4 Weeks to an Organized Christmas series.

This week we are all about Gift Wrap. 

Can you remember the last creatively wrapped gift that you received?

I do.  When we moved to our current home a few years ago, my aunt arrived on the scene to help with a paint bucket in hand.  Except that the bucket didn’t have any paint in it – it was full of little tools and a Lowe’s gift card to help with our many upcoming home improvement projects.

I LOVED it.

You can give someone just about anything in a creative package, am I right?

So here are 12 Creative Gift Wrap ideas to inspire that creativity.  Click through the picture to find the original post:

Click here to see more.

Join our community of people who are Doing Christmas Well this year.  LIKE The Merry Little Christmas Project on Facebook!

It’s Week 3 of our 4 Weeks to an Organized Christmas series!

This week I am embracing my inner crafty diva.  

I still have a few other projects in the works, but first I wanted to introduce you to my new little friend:

I learned how to make these cuties years ago from a friend’s Mom.  Since then, I have created another each time a new member was added to my family.  And now we have a little family of Elves:

This is such a simple project that anyone can do.  But to simplify it even more, I put together a little tutorial for you.

Here’s what you’ll need: 

• an alphabet block (we like to use the letter of our first initial around here)
• a wooden ball bead (ours is 20 mm)
• three pom poms
• red and green felt
• a glue gun

All of these should be cheap and easy to find at Michaels!

Tutorial:

1) Print out this handy little Elf Template I made for you.  Go ahead.  I’ll wait.

2) Cut those cute little shapes out – don’t you like how fancy they are?  I made them myself thankyouverymuch.

3) It will be easiest if you trace them onto cardstock or a thin cardboard, but it not, the paper should work.

4) Once you have the shapes, you can trace them onto the red and green felt like so:

It doesn’t really matter which color you use for each.  I just like to mix it up a bit.

6) Next, glue the arms on top of the block.  (Important: You need to glue the arms on before the neck and the head.  Ask me how I know…)

7) Then you’ll glue the neck first and then the head.  You’ll see I cut out little triangles to make the neck look all fancy and stuff.

8) Then you’ll add the hat. It always takes me a minute to remember how to do this part. So I took pictures to make it simpler for you (and for me the next time):

The flat edge of the hat is the part that you will glue together.  Wrap it around your finger like so:

9) And then glue it on your little elf friend’s head like so:

10) And then of course we add the legs:

11) Add a few pom pom’s, and suddenly you have a new cute little buddy: 

We’ve enjoyed our little guys with no face, but if you’d like to give him some added personality, go for it!

This might also make a simple homemade way to start the Elf on the Shelf tradition this year!

I have an idea! If you decide to make these, I would be tickled if you shared pictures with me on The Merry Little Christmas Project Facebook page.  I want to meet your little guys!

Want to transform your Christmas with us? My Book The Merry Little Christmas Project – Five Words that will Transform your Christmas has helped thousands of women do just that. If you have ever wished that Christmas didn’t have to be so stressful, I wrote this book for you. Click here to learn more and begin simplifying and organizing your Christmas with me! 

It’s Day 2 of our 4 Weeks to an Organized Christmas series! This week we are all about Simple Christmas Decor.  Today I finished up this:

I was inspired by this post.

Easy Peasy and so cute, don’t you think?

Tomorrow I have several more projects I’m hoping to tackle and share with you guys.  Plus I have a tutorial for these little cuties coming up:

Be sure to join us over on The Merry Little Christmas Project Facebook page.  We are counting down the days until Christmas and sharing our Christmas tips and tricks!

It’s Day 2 of our 4 Weeks to an Organized Christmas series!

This week we are tackling our Christmas decorations. 

Today I pulled out my two power tools of choice: my glue gun and my spray paint can.

My inner crafty diva doesn’t come out often, but I think I like her when she does stop by for a visit.

Here’s what I came up with today:

I found the printable Christmas Subway art here – isn’t it fun?  I was all out of color ink, so it was a good excuse to stop by the library for a visit and print it out for just $0.15.

I scored the frame at the Dollar Tree and spray painted it red for a more festive feel.  The burlap was a last minute addition since I printed the subway art a little too small for the frame.

I like it. 🙂

Now here’s a little sneek peak at what I’m working on for tomorrow:

See you tomorrow!

It’s Week 3 of our 4 Weeks to an Organized Christmas series!

This week is all about Simple Handmade Decorations.

And when I say simple, I mean it.

The closest I get to a power tool is a glue gun, you guys.

And yes, it’s too early to get out the Christmas decorations.  But it’s never too early to plan, right? And that’s what we’re all about this week.

Here are 8 simple Christmas decor ideas that have inspired me this week: 

Chalkboard Christmas Graphic for less than $5

Click here to see more.

This week we are all about planning. 

I promised more info on how to use the free Christmas Budget Planners I put together for you.

So I made a little video for you with details on how to use the spreadsheet.  Click here to watch it and let me know if you have any questions!

I also wanted to explain the purpose of the Christmas Gift Pocket Planner pages that you should have received as a Christmas Deals newsletter subscriber. (Sign up here if you haven’t yet and these tools will arrive in your inbox right away!)

Here’s how I’m using mine:

For the past couple of years, I’ve been using a Christmas organizer that I purchased on Amazon.  It worked fairly well, but one of my main issues was that it was just too big.  I wanted something that I could slip in my purse when I head to the store.

So I got the idea to make my own pocket planner.  Using a plastic sleeve picture album from the dollar store and the mini spreadsheet I created, here is what I came up with:

I slipped the sheets behind the plastic, but if you’d like easier access, you might consider gluing them on the outside of the sleeve.

I also decided to label a Coupon section and Receipts section.  Now I no longer have any excuses when I lose either of them!

I’m excited to have a plan in place for my gift budgeting.   I hope these tools can be a resource for you as well.

How about you?  Have you had success with gift budget planning?  Leave a comment with your best tips!